#hsk5

From Zero to HSK 5 (kinda a hero, 不是 😅)  I started my HSK journey back in 2020. At the beginning, I used different textbooks — HSK Standard Course, New Practical Chinese Reader (1–4), and Boya Chinese. But since my goal was to pass HSK 5 and study my major in Chinese, I focused mainly on the Standard Course. (click here to see a whole post) I moved through the first levels pretty quickly — HSK 1–3 in about three months. Then came HSK 4, which was way more challenging than I expected. The grammar tripped me up, and I wasn’t yet used to the “Chinese way of thinking.” To get past that, I started reading graded readers, short stories, and even some novels. It helped me get used to the natural flow of the language. In the end, HSK 4 took me about four months.

Then came the real ride: HSK 5. This was the point when I leaned on my Chinese friends the most. I tried a few italki lessons, but online classes just didn’t work for me — I need someone in front of me, explaining things face-to-face. At that time, my Chinese still felt shaky, and when I sat HSK 5 (and HSKK 高级), I was anything but confident. Some of my old followers might remember how hard I was cramming, but what no one knew was just how stressed I really was.

I passed, but here’s the twist: the confidence didn’t come from the certificate. It came later, after I actually arrived in China. Suddenly I was using Chinese with professors, classmates, street vendors, even nurses at the hospital. And that’s when I realized — I do understand. The impostor syndrome I had been carrying around just… disappeared. 🙏

Studygram community helped me a lot to stay consistent. Find study-buddies, find your goals, organize your materials, have a solid study-ecosystem (I will talk about it in the future!).

So why was I able to move so quickly in the beginning? Honestly, Japanese. I studied it during my BA and MA, and even though my Japanese was far from perfect, it gave me a huge head start with characters.

语法

以及

Es una conjunción como 和 pero con algunas diferencias sutiles: 以及 es más formal. 和 sirve sólo para conectar sustantivos pero 以及 puede conectar otros elementos. Además, 和 indica igualdad entre los elementos que conecta pero 以及 puede indicar que el elemento que le sigue es más importante

程度

Significa "grado". Ej. 在很大程度上，我们有多少客户取决于产品的价格

「我来人间一趟 本想万丈光芒，谁知世人模样 只为碎银几两」

I found this quote online and it really stuck with me. Roughly translates to:

“I visited this world, thinking it was made of gold and splendor. Who knew, the kind here would work harder for just a few grounds of silver.”

movement: went to morning practice for climbing. we warmed up, did 15x15s, pushed our grade, and then did a core workout together

chinese: studied 53 cards in 11.49 minutes (13.01 seconds per card) on anki today

chemistry: watched 3 lectures on IMFs, polarizability, boiling point, & vaporization point and did the corresponding lecture questions

dystopian lit: met with my professor to discuss my creative writing proposal

general: got tested for covid as part of my university’s preventative community testing program

🌻 grateful for how fulfilled i feel today :)) i really appreciate having a routine!

💌 fortress LA ~ mike davis

🌿 adeline ~ john robert

my etsy

数 on its own it means numbers, mathematics, amount etc. It has a couple of pronunciations and meanings, but this will focus on three main meanings and two main pronunciations. 

1) 数 shù - several 

This is essentially the same as 几, but a little more formal:

数十人死于这场火灾 - lit. several tens of people died in this fire. 

这里有数百名警察工作 - several hundreds of policemen work here

这里夏季的雷阵雨一般可持续数小时或者更久的时间 - showers of thunder and rain in the summer here usually last several hours or even longer

这种状态如果持续数天，数周，数月将导致高血压 - if this kind of condition lasts for several days, several weeks or several months, it will cause high blood pressure

2) 数 - shû (shu3) - to count

我大概数了一下，车上有32个学生 - I just counted roughly, in the car there are 32 students

先生，这是找您的钱，您数数 - Sir, this is your change, please count it

3) （要）数【名】（了）- shû (shu3) ...have to count, have to include, has to be

我觉得北京最美，最有名气的公园（要）数颐和园了 - I think the most beautiful park in Beijing, with the most famous reputation, has to be the Summer Palace

要说我们班跑得最快的，那就要数李阳了 - If you’re talking about who the fastest in our class is, it has to include/be Li Yang

Both 要 and 了 here are optional - you may just see 数 on its own.

下次见！

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